Who To Fight
by Flaming Crow
Summary: Sequel to "Who To Trust". Life is great on Berk, which can only last for about two months. Raven has a secret and the Outcasts have become more dangerous. They've trained dragons. She doesn't know if she should tell her new mate her secret, and if so, how? Overprotective Toothless is starting to get on her nerves, and her on his. Raven has to make a decision- who to fight.
1. When It All Starts

**I'm back! Sup guys! Here comes the sequel to 'Who To Trust'. It takes place at the end of the season finale, but for those who don't watch DreamWorks Dragons, the Outcasts are bad guys that are trying to train dragons and they are violent and are really annoying. Alvin is their leader. **

**Enough chitchat, let get on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except Raven and the plot. **

Chapter One

When It All Starts

It has been three months since Toothless and I were declared mates. Everybody was so happy, though I swore I saw Gobber wink at Stoick. But it didn't bother me much. And that doesn't mean I've changed my personality.

The rest of the gang has mates already. Not to mention kids. The prospect of having mini Night Furies all around makes me feel weird. Toothless hasn't brought up the subject, and I'm grateful for that. I don't think I'm quite ready for that. It's not like we're in a rush or anything. It can wait a few months… or years.

I sit on the roof patiently waiting for Toothless and the gang to come. Toothless and Hiccup left to go and gather them for the morning sky patrol.

A bird flutters by and I watch it lazily. As it lands on a nearby wood pole I notice its interesting colors. Its chest, belly, head, and base of the wings are a deep, fiery red, which then melts into a light orange, which melts into a gold at the wing and tail tips. It's a foot and a half tall, with a sharp beak and talons.

I narrow my eyes and it abruptly whips its head around and looks at me. Quickly turning my head, I pretend to be looking at something else. I hear wings flapping and look back to see the fiery bird flying away. I tilt my head and snort, "That was weird."

"What was?"

I nearly jump out of my scales in surprise and turn around to see Toothless and the gang at the base of the house. "Nothing." I leap down and playfully nudge Toothless.

"Good morning." Meatlug says. I yawn, "Mornin'." The riders climb onto their dragons (minus me). "Okay, are we all ready?" Hiccup asks. The riders say yes and the dragons roar.

"Let's start at Serpent's Rock." Astrid says. I crouch down and raise my wings. "Last one there's a rotten dragon!" I say quickly before launching myself into the air. "Hey!" Everybody immediately takes off after me.

In about thirty seconds Stormfly, Toothless, and I are in the lead with Hookfang at our tails. Barf Belch and Meatlug are trailing a bit away.

"Better luck next time, Toothless." I say, "Female Night Furies are built for _speed_." Flattening my wings to my body, I zoom forward a bit as I say, "speed". He looks at me and playfully growls. "You're better in battle, honey." He gives me a mischievous dragon grin, "Flying is my thing."

I roll my eyes, "You keep dreaming," and flap my wings harder.

Suddenly, Stormfly interrupts, "You _both_ keep dreaming because you're about to eat my wind!" She rockets forward, sending her "wind" into our faces. We glance at each other and start flying after her.

Toothless starts to go a bit ahead of me, but I have my secret weapon. Tilting my wings, I start flapping my wings downward, giving me an extra boost with each flap. It makes me go faster, but it uses more energy. Whatever, we're almost at Serpent's Rock anyways.

I speed past Toothless and he stares at me with wide eyes. Meanwhile, Hiccup and Astrid are yelling taunts at each other.

Stormfly grows bigger as I fly closer and closer. Soon, I'm right next to her hind legs. "Wha?" she looks back at me with surprise, "How'd you catch up so fast?"

Smirking, I say sassily, "I've got my secrets and you've got yours." Stormfly narrows her eyes at me, but I'm not looking at her now. Serpent's Rock is about ten Night Fury lengths away.

I fly faster and that's when Stormfly sees it too. Unexpectedly, she whizzes past me with great speed and raises her legs for landing. Three… two… one… Stormfly wins. "Aww." I growl and land next to her. Unfortunately, I was going too fast and I skid across the large mountain of rock, trying to dig my claws in and stop.

Pain shoots up my leg as I stub my claw on a rock and I fall forward, landing only an inch away from the edge. Stormfly leaps to my side, "Are you okay, Raven?"

She helps me sit up and I lick my paw. The rock had nearly split my claw in half. Still throbbing after I lick it, I try to put some weight on my paw. It hurts, but no that much. It's mainly my claw.

Toothless lands a few moments later. "Are you okay, Raven? I saw you skidding across the rock."

I wave my paw in front of his face. "I think you can figure out what happened. But don't worry," I say when he gives me a worried look, "I can still _fly_."

He purrs and nuzzles my cheek. Soon, the others catch up and it's getting a little squished on the rock.

"Let's get this over with already," Snotlout says, "I have other things to do."

"Sure you do." Hookfang mutters and I snort. "Alright, alright," Hiccup says, "You and the twins take the east of Berk. Fishlegs and I will take the west. Astrid, you take Raven and check the sea."

I wink at Stormfly and say, "You and me, Storm." She rolls her eyes, "You're so weird." I snicker and the others take off, splitting up and flying in different directions. "See ya later, Raven." Toothless says. I say goodbye and flap my wings.

We fly high so we are able to see what's on surface of the water. Once we're out of ear shot, Stormfly sparks up a conversation, "So, you thinking of having baby Night Furies on Berk?"

My wings go stiff for a moment before answering, "You know I haven't." Astrid doesn't pay any mind to us and starts looking around for anything odd.

"Well, ya know," Stormfly stutters, "Night Furies are endangered. And the rest of the gang has kids. My oldest, Zahar, is learning how to fly."

I look down. "I don't want to talk about this. I don't think I'm ready anyways." I mumble. Stormfly gazes at me affectionately and says, "You'll never think you're ready. I didn't think I was, but it just happened."

Suddenly, Astrid calls for the others. I give her a confused glance and look ahead. There's a large boat with a lot of cargo sailing towards Berk. "Trader Johann!" Stormfly exclaims.

In a few moments, the gang is speeding towards us. Puzzled, I fly towards Toothless. "Who's Trader Johann?" I ask as the Vikings talk feverishly.

"He's a human that sails around the world, trading stuff to the people on Berk and other islands. The thing is, he never comes so early."

Hiccup commands Toothless to fly down to the boat. We all follow them. They land, but Hiccup tells us to stay in the air. I see a man with a dark brown beard and mustache walk up to them. "Trader Johann," Hiccup says, "you've come early."

Trader Johann, looking shaken, says, "I need to speak with Stoick." Hiccup nods and Toothless launches into the air. We gather behind the sails and flap our wings to create strong winds that blow the ship faster to the island.

Once we reach the dock, the Vikings help him tie the boat to a pole. I sit down but suddenly, I see a flash of orange and whirl around. The fiery bird from earlier in the morning is perched on a basket of fish. It stares at me and I stare back. "What are you?" I mutter low enough so the others can't hear me.

The bird ruffles its feathers and flashes its colors. A few small flames flicker at its wing tips and I pull my head up in surprise, "Phoenix?"

The bird shrills a short tune and flutters towards me. I stare in confusion as it lands in front of me and sheds a few tears onto my cracked claw. Immediately, the crack seals up and heals completely. The pain fades away and the phoenix looks up at me. "Thanks." I breathe in amazement.

My ears perk up at the sound of heavy footsteps and I lift my head to see Stoick and Gobber walking towards us. But when I look back at the phoenix, all I see is an empty space where it was.

"What's wrong, Trader Johann?" Stoick asks. Trader Johann looks at him with wide, worried eyes, "Th-the Outcasts. They've trained dragons."


	2. When There Is Bad News

Chapter Two

When There Is Bad News

There's a moment of silence, where everybody's filled with shock and confusion. Well, except me, I have no idea what's going on, but I can tell it's really bad. Then, all of the Vikings start asking questions.

"Quiet!" Stoick yells and raises his hands. It takes a few moments, but soon, everybody's silent and watching. Stoick turns to Trader Johann, "How did you find out?"

"Well, I was sailing to Outcast Island for trading. Of course, they were a little less trusting of me since our last meeting. When I got there, they started looking for air weapons, like, the ones you throw. Catapults, bows and arrows - you name it. But then I noticed that there weren't any rogue dragons like there always is. Then, I saw a horrifying sight. Alvin flew up and out of their arena on this alarmingly dangerous looking dragon. It was huge with spikes all over its body. It was long and had these awful white eyes."

Toothless and I look at each other. So do the other dragons. We all know what that is. This 'Alvin' was riding a Whispering Death.

I shudder slightly, remembering my last encounter with one. It would have killed me if the gang hadn't driven it away while I was down. I had to choose between life and death, death being made to seem more appealing. Now, all that remains are scars on my neck where the spines dug the deepest.

While the Vikings keep talking, I signal the gang to follow me with a flick of my tail. Once out of earshot, not that the Vikings can understand us anyways, I ask, "What are the Outcasts? And who's Alvin and why is he riding a Whispering Death?"

Toothless sits down and, with the help of the other dragons, explains; "Berk isn't the only island with Vikings on it. There is another island called Outcast Island, which is home to, well, the Outcasts."

"We were at war with them before you came," Stormfly says, "and we thought that we had seen the last of them since they haven't been active. They are very large and dangerous, though not very smart. Well, at least most of them. Their leader is Alvin the Treacherous and he can be nifty at times."

I snort, "_Alvin the Treacherous_? Really?" Toothless looks at me seriously and says, "Raven, don't take this lightly. Alvin and the Outcasts are very dangerous, and now that they're riding dragons…" he takes a deep breath and I put a comforting wing on his back, trying to ignore Barf and Belch arguing. "Sorry," I mutter, "didn't realize how bad this is."

Hookfang glances at the Vikings, who seem to be working something out. "We're gonna have to come up with a pretty good plan if we're going to defeat them." He says doubtfully.

Suddenly, Stormfly whacks Belch and Barf on their heads with her tail. They were snapping at each other and are now glaring at Stormfly. "What did we do?" the two heads snarl at the same time. "In case you didn't notice," Meatlug growls, "we could be attacked at any moment!"

Stormfly raises her hackles, "And we need all the help and ideas we can get-"

"-so would you _quit arguing_?!" I finish for her. The three of us are on our feet and glowering at Barf and Belch.

The males stare at us in surprise. Hookfang, still staring wide-eyed, mutters to Toothless, "Now I know to never get my mate angry." Toothless snorts and the Vikings walk over to us.

"…we should go now, so we would have more time to prepare." Hiccup was saying. Astrid climbs onto Stormfly and Hiccup onto Toothless. "So what do we do, just stand here and wait?" Snotlout asks arrogantly. "Yes." Astrid says. Toothless makes a questioning sound and Hiccup states, "The stealthy dragons, that's you and Stormfly, are going to fly us over to Outcast Island and we are going to see exactly how bad things are. If things are really bad, we'll have to train all the dragons on Berk."

They prepare for take off and Stoick says, "Be careful, you two."

"Yeah, come back in one piece or I'll have to make another fake limb." Gobber says and they laugh. I purr and prepare to launch into the sky by crouching low.

"Woah woah woah," Toothless steps in front of me, "you're staying here."

"Am not!" I say defiantly, "I want to see the Outcasts." He opens his mouth to retort when Hiccup says, "Good idea! We'll send Raven back if things are bad and we need to start training all the dragons. She's fast, she can do it."

I give Toothless a look of triumph and he scowls. "Just," he says in exasperation, "don't do anything dumb or pick a fight."

"Um," Stormfly says, "I think we learned this morning who is the fastest."

I push her playfully and takeoff into the sky. They follow me and are soon at my sides. Turning my head to look at Toothless, I say defensively, "And when have I ever picked a fight?"

He gives me a look that, if he were human, would have had an eyebrow raised. I roll my eyes, "Okay okay, so what, I _sometimes_ pick fights. But that doesn't mean I can't win my own battles. You said it yourself, Tooth. I'm better in battle, but flying's your thing."

"Actually," Stormfly says, "I think male Night Furies are supposed to be stronger and the females are supposed to be faster."

Toothless shakes his head and gives an arrogant dragon grin, "Yeah, but Raven's got battle moves and that's what makes her good. Me, well, when I fly, I fly with style." I snort dip down enough to use my tail to splash him with water. He grunts and shakes his head, now soaked. "Hey, what was that for?" Hiccup says. Unfortunately, he got wet too. "Well, if you spoke dragon, oh great dragon master, you would know." He looks at me blankly and we crack up.

"So," I say once we catch our breath, "other than flying to an island to see if we are going to be attacked by the Outcasts who are even more dangerous now that they have dragons," I take a breath, then, "what else is new?"

Apparently, not much. Stormfly is on a chicken diet so she can fly faster. Toothless-well he tells me what's going on so nothing new there. I don't tell them about the phoenix. They'd probably say something useless. Instead, I tell Stormfly that I'm going to try her chicken diet. She doesn't complain after I say that it will be a more interesting competition.

We're in the middle of a conversation about the academy when a large grey blotch appears in the distance. "There it is." Hiccup says, "Let's land in the forest."

I narrow my eyes, but there's not a trace of green. "What forest?" I ask. Stormfly points to a dark grey area with her nose, "There. Most of the trees are dead or dying. There's no green because all of them have turned grey from malnourishment."

"The Outcasts don't even try to keep their land healthy," Toothless scoffs, "All they care about are weapons and war. They're ambitious, and that's one of the reasons why they're so dangerous."

I get the feeling that he left out the _'and one of the reasons why I didn't want you to come' _part, but I don't say anything. We make a turn and fly over the dull, lifeless forest. I get an odd feeling, like there's a lump in my stomach. It's not very strong, though, I probably just ate some bad fish this morning. Flying as quietly as possible, we land on an outcropping of rock and crouch down.

The riders get off of their dragons and squat next to us. "Okay, don't let them see us." Astrid says to Stormfly and Hiccup declares, "We're just here to see how bad things are." Ignoring them, I stealthily climb over the top of the outcropping and leap gracefully onto the ground without a thump. They do the same, though I can tell they're not too happy with me going before they did. Then, we all creep towards a rock mountain that is grey. Big surprise.

The lump in my stomach is getting a bit annoying, but I ignore it. Climbing the mountain, I slip into a sideways crack in the wall and crouch low, wincing at the sight I see.

Large, malicious looking Vikings are running around or riding dragons that look dirty and unkempt. My amber eyes dart around, searching for the Whispering Death the Trader Johann told us about. The others gather next to me and gaze at the scene. Suddenly, the ground near a place that looks somewhat like an arena erupts and a Whispering Death shoots out.

It has claw mark scars on its face and a bite mark on its underbelly. My eyes widen and I tense; I can hear the others gasp. It's the same one that nearly took my life.

Toothless lets out a soft growl and steps a little closer to me. Meanwhile, the Whispering Death and his rider, who is in fact Alvin, are flying around and shooting targets, each time getting a bullseye. When a group of Monstrous Nightmares flies dangerously close to us we pull back skid down the mountain.

"Wow," Astrid breathes, "This is worse than I thought."

"We should go soon," Hiccup says once we catch our breath, "Raven, fly ahead and warn the others. We need all the time and training we can get."

I turn around and raise my wings. "Be careful, Raven." Toothless says and I nod. Stormfly looks at me and bids, "Fly safe." Before I turn back around, I wink at her and she snorts.

I launch into the air, flying up and diagonally. Once I'm high enough and over the water I stop flying upward and position my body so I'm slightly diving so I can pick up speed without a lot of flapping but not going directly into the ocean too quickly. Flapping my wings, I fly even faster with my position, size, and shape.

It only takes about half an hour to get back to Berk. The rest of the Viking gang is at the dock sitting, chatting, and looking bored. Taking a deep breath, I roar and they look up at me. Spreading my wings, I try to slow down but, due to speed, I stumble when I land. The Vikings run up to me as I get up.

"I guess we're at war again." Fishlegs says solemnly. The others sigh and Stoick and Gobber run up to us. "Where's Hiccup?" he asks.

"Still flying back, I guess." Ruffnut says, "But, hey, we're at war with the Outcasts again. It'd be great to see some real explosions."

"Yeah," Tuffnut agrees, "Like the ones where we all use our dragons to destroy stuff! Or-"

"What are we standing around for? We need to gather the dragons and start training!" Stoick interrupts loudly and we jump. The gang scrambles off quickly and I turn to look at the sea horizon. Toothless and Stormfly haven't appeared yet; somebody else has.

I turn to look at the phoenix landing beside me. Of course, it's the same one. "What do you want?" I ask in annoyance. It shrills the same tune and hops right in front of me so it has to lift its head completely upward to see my face. I want to back away, but something keeps me rooted to the spot. The phoenix spreads its wings and flames once again spark at the tips. Then, it brushes my belly with its wingtips and flies away.

I gaze after it in confusion when the feeling in my stomach comes back. But this time, I notice that it's not exactly in my stomach, more like… My eyes widen in horror. "No no no!" I whisper, prodding my stomach hard with my paw, "I can't lay eggs! Not now! We're about to go to war with the Outcasts!"

But, unfortunately, I can't deny that I'm carrying eggs. In fact, to make matters worse, I think there're two of them.

My heartbeat quickens in anxiety and I look up to see Toothless and Stormfly's shapes in the distance.

* * *

_ Nighttime_

I've been thinking about telling Toothless about the…problem. It's the right thing to let him know that he's going to be a father and I might just make things worse if I don't tell him. But he'll probably start worrying about me and insist on me resting. Then I won't be able to fight and he'll have to protect me like I'm some-

The sound of footsteps interrupts my thoughts. I lay on the rock slab in the house and watch as Hiccup and Toothless walk in, both looking tired. When they and Astrid had arrived we had immediately begun training. The Vikings got all of the dragons on Berk suitable for battle to the arena. There, we worked on ground fights, aerial attacks, counter attacks, and defense. It was hard to get much done because there were so many dragons. But, in the end, everybody learned at least two new moves. Hiccup said Stormfly, Toothless, and I could go rest near the end of the lesson since we flew a lot today, but Toothless stayed.

Toothless collapses next to me and yawns. "This is going to be a pretty big fight," he says, "are you sure you want to fight?"

I nod and he rests his head on his paws and curls his tail around me, "Okay. We're going to need all of the help we can get."

He sighs and closes his eyes. I rest my head on his shoulder. I shouldn't tell him. No, not yet.


	3. When Both Battles Come

Chapter three

When Both Battles Come

Toothless and I stand on opposite ends of the arena, facing each other with eager eyes. I open my mouth and prepare to shoot a plasma blast and so does he. I feel myself warm up and I see his mouth beginning to glow.

"One…two…three!"

We both shoot at each other at the same time. The plasma blasts collide and create and explosion that rattles the arena fence and leaves a ringing in our ears. Once that stops, sound returns.

"Wow, okay that was good." Hiccup says as he and the gang walks back into the arena. "That'd be useful if they are ever surrounded." Astrid comments. It's been three days since we started training and the other dragons have got a fair amount of battle moves memorized. I still haven't told Toothless the news yet, and I'm beginning to feel like my belly's slowly growing. However, the phoenix hasn't shown up at all.

Toothless and I trot towards the edge of the arena and let the other dragons practice some more advanced ground battle moves since the new dragons went home. I rear back on my haunches and lean against the wall, watching Stormfly leap on Meatlug and the other two scuffling in the fading light. It's dusk and today's lesson is coming to an end. Finally, when Hookfang, Barf and Belch break away from each other, Hiccup calls it a day. "That was good practice, guys. In a couple more days, we'll have those Outcasts flying back to their pitiful island."

I'm walking out of the arena when Stormfly asks me to hang back for a moment. The others pass by me and the next moment, Stormfly and I are alone in the arena. Astrid understands that we want to talk and leaves.

"What's up, Storm?" I ask. She looks down at me with a look of joy in her face, "Why didn't you tell me you're going to lay eggs?" I jerk my head back in surprise. How did she find out? "H-how do you know?" I ask, stuttering a bit.

Stormfly rolls her eyes, "I'm a mother to three kids. I know it when I see it." I shift and look at my paws. She gives a toothy grin and asks, "How many are there?"

I touch my belly with my tail, "Two…maybe three."

"That's wonderful!"

I glance at her and then we fall into a silence. "I don't want to tell Toothless." I finally mumble.

"Why not?" she asks, tilting her head. I sigh, "Because I know he'll start smothering me and be all protective. One thing I'm positive of is that I won't be leaving the bed on his watch." Stormfly snorts and puts a comforting wing on my back. I give her a grateful look and she winks, "I'm here for you if you need anything." Sighing, I look back down at my paws and I feel her wing slide off my back. Her footsteps echo in the empty arena, then fade as she walks out.

I stare after her, then trudge back to the house. On the way, I hear a sudden BANG then people screaming. My head snaps up to see many shapes in the sky approaching Berk. "The Outcasts are attacking!" Someone yells.

The gang is up and about in an instant. The riders climb onto their dragons and take off into the sky. I stay on the ground, fighting some of the Outcasts and their dragons that land. Suddenly, a large group of Outcasts and their dragons land on the dock. One of them has Hiccup's description of Savage, Alvin's right hand man, and is riding a Monstrous Nightmare.

Snarling, I charge towards one on his right while another Gronckle attacks some on the left. Barging into the Outcast, I send him and his Changewing, who tried to look invisible, to no avail, tumbling off the dock and into the ocean.

Turning around, I see a flash of red before I'm suddenly pinned to the ground. The Monstrous Nightmare snarls at me and prepares to shoot fire at me. "Wait wait!" Savage pulls on the dragon's reins and he closes his mouth. I glare at the Outcast, but he's looking at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "A female Night Fury?" he grins evilly, "You could be useful." Before his dragon can try to carry me, there's flare of blue, someone yelling, "Nooo!" and the beast falls on its side.

Toothless lands so quickly on the Monstrous Nightmare that I hear a thump. Hiccup isn't on his back. Instantly, he has him pinned, in a fury that I've never seen before. Meanwhile, Savage is being squashed underneath the trapped dragon and Toothless's weight. Raising his paw, Toothless swipes the dragon across his face with his claws. It yowls in pain and struggles. After inflicting a few more wounds, the Monstrous Nightmare cries, "Please! Please stop!"

He puts his paw at the pleading dragon's throat and I flinch at the hatred his eyes. "Get out!" Toothless snarls in an almost unrecognizable voice. Then he grudgingly slides off. The dragon immediately gets up and scrambles away, in the process causing Savage to fall into the water.

For a few moments, Toothless stares after the fleeing dragon. Then, he turns around and looks at me, his gaze only softening a bit. "Raven," his voice sounds strained, as if he's trying not to roar at me, "get back to the house."

Of course, no matter how serious is, I argue, "What? No way! I-"

"-could've died!" he interrupts, "They're going to kidnap you! You heard Savage! He said you could be useful! They're going to capture you and take you to Outcast Island!"

As worried as he looks, I still retort, "I can defend myself! I wasn't going to let that Monstrous Nightmare kill me!" I know I'm being very stubborn now, but I don't want him running around, thinking he has to protect me like I just hatched out of my egg.

"Raven, this is not up for discussion!" he growls. I'm about to snap when he suddenly takes a threatening step forward. "_Stay out of this fight_." His voice sounds just like when he was snarling at the dragon. My eyes widen a bit, then I turn tail and run to the village. I can feel his gaze on my back as I run back to the house.

Peeking out of the window, I see Stormfly, with Hiccup and Astrid on her back, land next to Toothless and let Hiccup climb off. Then, he gets onto to his dragon and they launch into battle.

Looking up, I see a couple of Outcasts break away from a group of Deadly Nadders. Completely ignoring what Toothless said, I jump out of the window and fly towards the two. He may be my mate, but he needs to see that I can fight for myself.

And besides, he wants to protect me. He wouldn't get too angry

One of them is riding a Thunderdrum and the other a Hideous Zippleback. As I get closer, I angle my wings so I can fly faster. Then, turning my head downwards, I barge headlong into the Zippleback's stomach. It drops down a bit as it gets the wind knocked out of it. While it's gasping, I turn and shoot a plasma blast at the Thunderdrum.

It roars in pain, making my cover my ears. Abruptly, I feel something hard hit my head and look up to the rider pointing a pathetically small slingshot at me. Smirking, I knock it out of his hands with my tail and bite the dragon's shoulder. It screeches. Maybe I should stop, for my sake.

Looking down for the Zippleback, I see that it's flying away, along with most of the Outcasts. Alvin must've called for a retreat. I feel the Thunderdrum fleeing above me and I fly after them, yelling taunts and jeers. The other dragons roar in victory along with me. Suddenly, a much louder roar reaches my ears.

"RAVEN!" I whirl around, expecting to see some dragon about to attack me. Instead, I see Toothless flying angrily towards me. Here it comes.

Dropping down, I land and turn around. I hear his wings beating, and I turn to see him landing a few lengths away from me. He looks outraged; he doesn't even let Hiccup climb off, he just shakes him away and stalks towards me. Sighing, I say, "Look, I was just- " only to have him interrupt me again.

"Raven!" I give a start at the anger in his voice. It doesn't contain a hint of worry; just pure rage, "I told you to _stay in the house_! Why are you so stubborn?!" He's advancing on me quickly and I back away.

"You just always have to do it your way, huh?" I flinch at the fire in his eyes. Soon, I'm backed up into a wall with him only a foot away, "I-I"

But he interrupts me again. "You think that your way is the best! That your way will solve all of your problems just because _you_ want to do something!" he roars, "Not about what _your way_ can cost!"

He's pacing back and forth in front of me, glaring, as if daring me to interrupt. "I wish you would just _listen_ and _do_ what I say for once!" he rants on, "Something could have gone wrong! You could've given the Outcasts what they wanted- just waltzing right into their hands like a gift!"

My heart is beating so fast right now. I can smell my own fear, feel it rolling off me like waves. Toothless doesn't seem to notice.

"You know, why don't you go to the Outcasts?" Please, please make him stop. He starts to rear up on his hind legs, flapping his wings, making him look bigger, "You go see what they will do to you, you ignorant little-"

Stormfly suddenly leaps in front of me, wings spread out, shielding me from him. "TOOTHLESS THAT'S ENOUGH!" she roars.

The world starts to turn fuzzy. I don't know what to do! My body literally doesn't know what to do! Heart beating fast, I yowl and once again, turn tail and run away from my mate and his gaze. His horrifying…terrible…

I don't notice that I'm running into the forest. The trees are passing by in a fast blurry.

The only place I can think of going comes to my head: the cove. Quickly, I run/stumble blindly towards the cove.

Suddenly, the ground disappears and I fall into the cove. My head crashes into something hard and the world goes black.


	4. When I- No The Name Will Give It Away

**This chapter has more of the mysterious phoenix. If you don't know a lot about phoenixes (or you don't like Harry Potter) I'll tell you a bit about them *put's on Dumbledor's glasses and says in his voice* Facinating creatures, phoenixes. They can carry extrodinarily heavy loads and their tears posses powerful healing powers.**

** Okay done.**

** Disclaimer (again): I do not own anything except Raven and the plot.**

Chapter Four

When I- No The Name Will Give It Away

_A fiery light. It's pulling me nearer. I don't know if I follow it. I can't feel my legs, but I start moving towards it. Closer…closer…_

My eyes snap open. The phoenix is only inches away, cawing and croaking at me. Startled, I try to move, only to be met by pain. I grit my teeth in pain, but as it eases, I realize why it hurt.

I'm in an odd angle. My head is on a boulder, but the rest of my body is above me. It takes me a few seconds to realize that I'm tangled in the rock wall of the cove. My left wing is bent backwards and is caught behind a rock. I can move my other wing, though.

My foot is stuck between two boulders. I attempt to pull and it slips out somewhat easily. Unfortunately, I slide down and land painfully on my side. Groaning, I sit up and blink, trying to clear my vision.

I think I pulled a muscle or something because my wing hurts badly. My foot also hurts, but not as much as my wing. I hope I didn't break it.

It's nighttime, but it's unusually dark. Looking up, I see that it's a new moon. There are only the stars to light the sky. I must've been knocked out for a few hours. The battle started at dusk and the light was fading when it ended and-

My eyes widen as everything comes crashing back down on me.

The Monstrous Nightmare pinning me.

Savage wanting to capture me.

Toothless attacking them and… Toothless.

My heart wrenches and I let out a wail of grief that echoes in the cove. He probably hates me now. I cringe, remembering the fire and rage in his eyes as he shouted at me. Why did I have to defy him and join the fight? He only wants to protect me!

I pace back and forth, ignoring the pain in my foot, muttering and snarling to myself. The phoenix watches me patiently.

He was right. If I weren't so proud and stubborn- I wouldn't be in this mess! I'd be nice and warm at home and he'd still love me. I suddenly stop dead in my tracks.

Wait a second- if he would love me, he would love me for me! He wouldn't get mad at me like that! I'm still muttering, now angrily, when the phoenix abruptly flutters in front of me and shrills its tune. "What?" I snarl. It turns around and puts some dry grass on a patch of bare earth. Then, with a flash of its wings, the grass catches fire and acts like a large candle.

The bird settles down near it and looks at me expectantly. Sighing, I trudge over and flop down across from it on the other side of the fire. "Sorry," I mumble, "I need to calm down a bit." The phoenix takes a deep breath and I copy it. Then, we both exhale, causing the light to flicker a bit.

My heartbeat turns to normal and I gaze at the fiery bird. Tilting my head, I say, "You know what? I need to call you something. What's your name?" It caws and I stare at it blankly. Okay, maybe I should name it- well, now that I look closer- her.

I think for a moment, then, "How 'bout if I call you Autumn? For your feathers. Do you like that?" She shrugs and shrills the same tune. It has five different notes in it. "What's that tune you always sing?"

She shrills it again.

My ears perk, "What, is that our code-song thingy?" Autumn shrugs again and nods. I purr, a bit more relaxed, and rest my head on my paws. I try to forget about Toothless for now.

My eyelids start to droop a little as I sleepily watch the dancing flame. After a few minutes, I notice it starting to fade. The grass is turning pitch black and crinkling.

Autumn gets up and walks away in search of more kindling. I see her pick up some twigs and then grab something in her talons. Walking back, I see that it's a few dried leaves. She tosses them and the fire starts up again, a bit bigger this time.

Yawning, I close my eyes. I don't know if I fall asleep, but the next thing I know, Autumn is squawking at me feverishly. Alarmed, I scramble up, "What is it?"

She shrieks and flutters onto a boulder on the rock wall. I stare at her in confusion as she jerks her head at me and then at the wall. Tilting my head, I ask, "You want me to go back to Toothless? I'd think he'd still mad at me."

Autumn rolls her eyes and flies to the top of the cove. She looks at me again before disappearing over the edge. "Hey-wait!" I spread my wings, wincing as my left wing aches with a new wave of fresh pain. Looking at it doubtfully, I'm making my way over to the wall to climb when something hard crashes into me, sending me flying towards the lake.

I land on my injured wing and let out a yowl of pain. Before I know it, something long and rough wraps around me, pinning my wings and legs to my body.

Looking up, I gasp as my gaze is met by glistening white eyes.

* * *

Toothless's POV

_Earlier_

I watch angrily as Raven turns tail and runs away from me. She disappears once she reaches the tree line of the forest and I fold my wings. My adrenaline drains and I look blankly up at Stormfly. "Toothless!" she screeches furiously, "What was that!?"

"She just," I start, "doesn't listen to me!" I walk back towards the group, who are staring at me with wide eyes. Stormfly leaps to my side, "Because that's how she is! She's stubborn and proud, but she's a great dragon. Isn't that why you fell in love with her in the first place?"

Hiccup looks at the other Vikings and says, "I think the dragons need to be left alone for a while. It looks like they're discussing something." They leave, sometimes glancing over their shoulders at me.

"Toothless," I glance up at Hookfang, "I think you're overreacting a bit." I scowl and sit down. "I'm just trying to protect her and she doesn't listen!" I growl in frustration. The others glance at each other. "What?" I growl.

Meatlug looks at her paws, "Well, do you ever think you're been a bit _too_ protective?" I stare at her, "No, why?"

"Okay, Toothless, I'm gonna be honest with you." Stormfly rolls her eyes and sighs, "You're being overprotective of her. She's just dying to fight something. And not just train. It's in a dragon's blood to fight, especially someone like her."

"But I have to protect her!" I say, "She might die! Remember she nearly did when the Whispering Death attacked her? I-"

"But she's different now and can defend herself." Stormfly interrupts. "Yeah, you're treating her as if she's a runt that just hatched." Belch snorts. "Really?" I ask, "That bad?"

The dragons all start agreeing.

"Oh yeah."

"Exactly like one."

"You got it."

I sigh. Even my friends are going against me. Maybe I am being overprotective of her.

We keep on talking until nighttime. I argued a few times, but eventually they won me over. Then, the Vikings come back to get us. As Stormfly leaves, she turns around and says something that I won't forget in a hurry.

"We all know Raven can be ignorant at times. She's a very proud and defensive dragon. And I know she isn't scared of a lot of things, and when she is, she hides it. But I never thought you would be the thing she's scared of. I never thought I would see such a terrified look in her eyes such as when she was looking at you."

I stare after her, guilt keeping me rooted to my spot. Turning my head, I gaze at the forest, hoping for Raven to come out. But she doesn't. Instead, I see something moving above the forest. Narrowing my eyes, I can see many shapes against the moonless night sky.

Then, one of the shapes dives into the forest. My eyes widen as I recognize its long body. "The Outcasts!" I shriek, loud enough for the gang to hear, "They're here! They're capturing Raven!"

** Sorry about the cliffie!**

***runs away from angry mob***

**Blame my literature teacher! She's talking about suspense and stuff!**

***escapes mob and jumps onto a llama with wings and flies away throwing donuts and some new tacitos that I got***

***flies home and then tries some of those tacitos-**

**Okay sorry, I'm just really bored right now.**


	5. When It Is Dark

Chapter Five

When It Is Dark

**Thanks to Freedom of the Eagle for reviewing!**

I feel the wind blowing in my face and whistling in my ears. It would have felt nice, if I weren't in pain.

Blinking my eyes open, I see the ocean zooming fast under me. I would jerk my head back in surprise, but I have a splitting headache that keeps me still. My mind is still a bit fuzzy and confused. I can tell something's restraining me because I can't move my limbs.

Looking up, I see the Whispering Death flying with Alvin riding him. He must be Alvin; he has Hiccup's description of him. The Whispering Death's tail, which is kind of also his body, is wrapped tightly around me. His spines are down, but tense, and I can tell he wants to sink them into something. Hopefully, not into me.

There are dragons and their Outcast riders all around me. Must be making sure I don't escape, I don't see how I could, though, if they think I'm unconscious.

The only thing that gives me a bit of courage and hope is the sight of Autumn flying far away. She's only a speck against the dark dawn sky, but the sight of her gives me a hint of faith.

Suddenly, the Whispering Death tightens his grip around me and I hiss in pain. My wing is definitely broken now. He turns his head and looks at me. "Good, you're awake," he sneers, "You were starting to be a boring little hostage."

I flatten my ears and growl. He snickers, "Well you don't seem glad to see me."

"What do you want?" I snarl. The dragon smirks, "At the moment, some chicken," I roll my eyes and he continues, "But with you, I just want you to know that I would have succeeded in killing you if your rotten friends hadn't outnumbered me."

I sigh irritably, "Not you-you. I meant the Outcasts and Alvin. What do they want from me?"

One of his spikes lifts and brushes the scars on my neck lightly. "Now now," he mocks, "if I told you it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it, dear?" I snarl as he says, "dear". He smirks and continues, "It would ruin all the fun."

I try to come up with a comeback, but I can't think of any, which makes his smirk wider. Scowling, I turn my head and look back at the water.

A harsh, rough voice reaches my ears, "Ahh, there, home sweet home." I look up to see Outcast Island in the distance. Alvin turns his gaze to me, "Well, you're going to be trouble once we land." He pats the Whispering Death's neck. "Knock her out, Skurge."

Before I can do anything, Skurge raises the end of his tail and whacks me hard on my head. The sound of their harsh, cruel laughter fills my mind and I groan. Once again, my vision turns dark and I blackout.

* * *

When I regain consciousness, it's hard to tell if I even woke up. It's so dark all around me; I can't see a thing.

Lifting my head, I look all around me for anything. Behind me, there's the faintest hint of light. It looks dark grey in the darkness. I slowly walk towards it, gritting my teeth in pain as I put weight on my bad foot (the one that got stuck between the rocks in the cove).

The light grows a bit brighter, but not much. Suddenly, I bump into something and stop. Straining my eyes, I can just make out some bars in front of me. I must be in some sort of underground cage. The light seems to be coming from the end of a tunnel, which is why it's so faint.

My ears perk as I hear a noise. I can barely make out voices.

"This is perfect." One of them says, "They'll come right after the bait, and we'll be rid of those retched Vikings once and for all."

I tilt my head. Bait?

Another one speaks, "Make sure they can't find her; I want top security in this place. Any foe that comes in, better not come back out."

"Don't worry," the other says mischievously, "they won't. She blends in with the Dark Cave, they wouldn't find her anyways. But I don't have to worry about her escaping, by any chance?"

"Of course not. The Dark Cave's shadows and lack of light makes almost everybody go insane after a couple of days. The cave keeps them confined to their thoughts, their memories. And the blackness, for some reason, seems to drain their heads of happy memories while they're in there. That's why I love it so much."

The two voices laugh and fade away.

My heartbeat quickens and I shudder. This place must be the Dark Cave they were talking about. I'm the bait. They're going to lure the Vikings to Outcast Island and trap them. Or worse, kill them.

I lay down next to the bars, as close to the light as I can be. Determined not to 'go insane' as that voice said, I focus on the happiest memories I can think of.

The time when one of my siblings found us again after getting stuck under a fallen tree…only to fall behind again, like the others. I shake my head. Okay, childhood memories aren't the best. How about Berk?

Snowball fights with the gang.

Training is always fun.

Oh, that race that we had last week.

The day Toothless and I…

I whimper. If only I had listened to him. He probably doesn't know I'm here. I'm not sure if he'd care, though. He seemed pretty mad at me.

The shadows seem to pull at me as it gets harder and harder to find a happy memory.

If I had listened to Toothless, now that I think about it, I wouldn't be here. This is all my fault. The Outcasts are going to destroy the Vikings and I'm to blame. I shudder as horrifying images dance across my mind.

A Monstrous Nightmare's skull; no, Hookfang's skull.

Stormfly's head on someone's wall.

Outcasts storming around Berk, killing innocent people and children.

Toothless's dead body surrounded by buzzards or wolverines.

A sudden clench in my belly jerks me out of my thoughts for a moment. Turning my head, I look at my belly, which is bigger than normal, and let out a wail of despair. Everything is my fault! Every death is going to be because of me!

I drop my head onto the cold, stone floor in exhaustion. My body is stressing out too much, but that doesn't seem to be what's entirely causing my fatigue. Glancing at my swollen belly, my heartbeat quickens, but I'm too tired to care.

I let the shadows and darkness take over my mind, and fall into a troubled sleep.

**I felt like I needed a place worse than their regular old prison. And it adds to the suspense so ya, its okay. R&R**


	6. When The One I Love, I Lose

Chapter Six

When The One I Love, I Lose

_Toothless's POV_

_Earlier_

My heart thumps wildly as I tear through the forest, the gang hard on my heels. They can't have taken Raven! She will have fought them off. Once I get there, she's going to have a dead dragon at her paws and-

The cove comes in sight and, without thinking, I leap off of the edge and land on the ground with a thump. I can hear the gang skidding to a halt, then wing beats, and then them landing behind me.

"Raven?" I call out a once. Nothing. But I don't give up just yet. I keep calling out her name, poking my nose behind trees and boulders- anything that could possibly hide Raven.

After a few minutes of searching, I hear Hookfang gasp. Instantly, I whip my head around and look at him. He's staring at something on the rock wall. "What is it?" I ask.

Hookfang gestures us over and we obey. Then, he points to some black stuff on the rocks with his wing claw. My heart sinks to my stomach. They're Raven's scales.

"We have to go save her!" I say immediately, "Let's launch an attack on Outcast Island!" I start to climb up the rock wall, where the Viking gang is waiting at the top, when Hookfang pulls me back. "Slow down there, Toothless," he says and I look at him, "We can't just launch an attack all willy nilly!"

I frown and sit on the ground as the Vikings climb down. "He's right." Stormfly says, "I want to save Raven as much as you do but we need a plan or else we might just make it worse for her."

The Vikings make it to the ground and Hookfang shows them the scales. After a few gasps, Hiccup says, "Lets get back to the village. Then we'll figure out what to do."

I let him climb onto my back and race through the forest and back to the village. There, Stoick wakes up all of the people that are good at riding dragons. We come up with a pretty good plan, I just hope it works. The gang and I recite the plan to all of the dragons that are coming. Then at dusk, which seemed far to long of a wait, we set out for Outcast Island.

The shadowy island looks the same: dark, spooky, and gray. I give the signal and the dragons start flying silently. The group above me starts diving and suddenly everything turns to chaos.

Dragons and their Outcast riders charge towards us, spitting fire and lava. I narrowly dodge a fireball from a Gronckle and shoot one back at it. "They were expecting us!" Hiccup yells as more Outcasts appear.

"Toothless!" Stormfly roars and points to the underground prison. I nod and dive towards it, dodging dragons, fire, and stuff that Outcasts shoot at me.

I fly right into it and fold my wings. A group of Outcasts run at us and Hiccup commands me to shoot a plasma blast, as if I wasn't already going to do that.

The blast takes out three of them and I pounce on the other two. After clawing them a bit, I jump off and rocket down the tunnel. It gets darker as I go deeper and deeper into the ground. Something black flashes in front of me and I stop in front of a gated cell.

"Raven?" I call. Nothing. Looking around for the black flash, I realize it's just a shadow from the torchlight. "Come on, bud." Hiccup says, "They probably have her somewhere else."

It's a bit harder going out than in. A bunch of Outcasts attack us on the way. But eventually, we make it out.

Everybody is still fighting. It looks like the Outcasts are winning. Suddenly, there's a flash of orange and I dodge. But it isn't a fireball. It's…a bird. A phoenix, I think. It squawks at me and flies towards a hole in the mountain. Hiccup sees it too, "Toothless, follow that phoenix. I think it knows where Raven is."

I fly after it and run down the tunnel. Or try to. A huge group of Outcasts surround me and start attacking me. I scratch with every limb and shoot fire until I have no more. Then, over the noise of fighting, a sound that fills my heart with joy reaches my ears, "Toothless?"

It's Raven! I call out her name loudly and she responds again, "Help me, Toothless! Get me out of here!" Just then, another wave of Outcasts attack and push us out of the tunnel. "Raven!" I roar desperately. Stormfly appears at my side and helps me fight. She's got a lot of wounds and looks tired. "Toothless, we can't save her!" she says, "We'll keep trying, but we have to retreat." I'm about to argue, when I stop and gaze at the battle behind me.

The Outcasts are overwhelming the Vikings and it seems like the Vikings have more injuries. They all look tired, except for the Outcasts. They look energetic and bloodthirsty. "Retreat, Toothless!" Hiccup yells. Turning back to the cave, I shout, "I'm sorry, Raven! We'll come back for you!"

Then, with an aching heart, I turn around and fly away. I nearly yowl in grief as Raven's voice calls after me, "No! Please! Don't leave me!"

The Vikings scream as a fresh wave of Outcasts dive at them. Stoick sees us flying towards him and calls the retreat. The Outcasts yell and cheer in victory as we fall back, many times taunting and jeering at us.

The journey home goes by in a blur. Raven's voice still echoes in my ears as I fly. Once we reach Berk, the most of the dragons go to Gobber, who tries to heal their wounds.

I walk to the house with Hiccup and flop down on my rock slab. "Oh, Toothless." Hiccup says, "I'm sorry we couldn't save her. There were just too many Outcasts."

I stay silent as he scratches my ears. Looking at his metal leg, I narrow my eyes. Suddenly, I get an idea.

Hiccup looks at me as I stand up and point at his leg with my nose. "What about me leg?" he asks. I lift my tail and cover one of my wounds. He tilts his head, "You want a metal tail flap? That won't help you fly, though."

I roll my eyes and huff in annoyance. Then, I bound down the stairs and look for a metal pot. After a few minutes of searching, I find one and put it on my head. Hiccup watches me in confusion. I bang my head on a wooden beam. He still looks confused.

Grunting, I go into the kitchen. Quickly finding a knife, I carefully balance it on my tail.

Then, I flick my flap upwards and the knife soars in the air. "Toothless!" Hiccup gasps. The knife hits the pot and clatters to the ground. I take the pot off of my head and look at Hiccup hopefully.

It takes him a few moments, but then his eyes widen, "Armor! We can give the dragons armor so they won't get hurt so easily! That will give us more time to break Raven free!"

I nod and nudge him excitedly. He pats my head, "You're a genius, bud, but you'll have to wait. It will take a while to make the armor for all of the dragons, and they have to heal."

We go back to his room and I lay down once again on my rock slab. I'm sure that if we can get armor, Raven will be at my side in no time. It will take a while, yes, but this is now the only hope I have of getting my mate back.

**Sorry, that was a quick chapter. But, hey, it was entirely in Toothless's POV so thats new eh?**


	7. When I Don't Know What To Name A Chapter

Chapter Seven

When I Don't Know What To Name A Chapter

_Earlier_

I was so happy when I heard Toothless calling my name. He was going to set me free! I would never have to see this wretched cave again! But no, he left me. And the shadows once again took over my mind.

"You know, I'm actually surprised that he came." I mutter to myself. I've been doing that a lot lately. When the sane part of me wakes up a bit, I don't really know who the 'you' is. But then I usually stop paying attention and go back into the shadows. My eyes have gotten used to the darkness, and now I can faintly see some boulders and rocks in the cave. I've been here for about three days, I think. Well, long enough to go insane.

My ears perk as I hear footsteps approaching. Someone bangs the gate, "Chow time, you little monster." I look at the bars and see an Outcast slide a couple of fish through the gate. Then, he quickly scurries away from the shadows.

I stalk over and quickly devour the pitifully small meal. They don't feed me a lot and I'm getting skinny.

And to make things worse, I can feel that the eggs are nearly ready. I huff and lay down, muttering and growling to myself, as usual.

_Meanwhile_

Autumn soars above the Dark Cave entrance, trying to decide what to do. The Outcasts haven't paid any mind to her. She then lands gracefully on a bare tree. The phoenix starts peeling bark and any leaves off of the tree. Then, Autumn leaves them in a pile near the trunk of the tree and takes off into the sky.

Using her excellent vision, she scours the ground for prey. A mouse skitters on the roots of a tree. Too small.

It takes a while to find another animal, but eventually, Autumn catches a somewhat skinny squirrel. Then, with the prey in her beak and kindling in her talons, she quietly dives into the tunnel.

_Back To Raven_

I wearily peek an eye open. It's only been a couple of hours since I last ate, but my stomach is hurting.

Suddenly, the sound of fluttering wings reaches my ears and I lift my head up. Is that just me, or do I see Autumn? The fiery bird, perched on a gate bar, gazes at me. I shake my head. No, no…it would be too good to be true.

The bird squawks at me and I jerk my head back. Narrowing my eyes, I whisper, "Autumn?"

The bird squawks again and I purr with joy. Autumn flutters and lands in front of me as I say, "I can't believe its you! Thank you for coming." She puts something down on the floor and sets it on fire. I squint my eyes, which are not used to the light. Eventually, I can look right at the fire. It fills my heart with hope. I don't know why, though. It seems to chase away the shadows from my mind.

Autumn nudges something towards me that looks like a squirrel. I give a dragon smile and finish it in a couple of bites.

She hops onto my shoulder and I feel something wet on my broken wing. I feel it start to heal and sigh with relief. She must've cried on it. Ha, cried on it, that sounds funny. For the first time in a long while, I laugh. It feels good. But that feeling doesn't laugh for long.

Suddenly, my stomach clenches and I gasp in pain. Autumn flutters down to my side as my heart starts beating faster. I start panting and another ripple of pain passes through my body. "What's happening?!" I yowl.

I feel my stomach clench again and wail in pain. This goes on for a few minutes, but it feels like hours to me. Unexpectedly, the pain dies down a bit. I look at my belly and my eyes widen. Next to my hind leg is a black egg with dark blue markings.

"Uh oh." My eyes are still wide when another ripple of pain comes. I yelp and grit my teeth. Autumn watches blankly. Soon, there's another black egg next to the other one, but this time, it has dark grey markings. I purr as the pain dies down. My body is so sore; I slump and close my eyes.

My body clenches again and I gasp. Eyes wide, I exclaim, "How many are there?" This one doesn't take as long as the other two.

Weary with exhaustion, I look at it. This one is surprisingly small, and instead of black, its white with icy blue markings. I blink tiredly and the pain stops. Autumn walks towards my eggs and nudges them towards my belly. Then, she looks at me and shrills our tune. I purr, "So, I guess I'm a mother now." She nods.

I sigh, "So I'm going to have to be here longer? I can't just leave them." I'm already being protective of the un-hatched dragons. The phoenix bends over my eggs and sheds a tear on one. It sizzles, and then stops. She does the same to the other one. For the third one, she sheds three. It sizzles longer than the rest, but I'm too tired to care.

She looks at me and draws something on the ground with her talon. It sparks at the touch and she writes the word, "Tomorrow."

I sigh and she flies away. Tomorrow, they will hatch.

_Tomorrow_

Autumn returns the next day with kindling again and a rabbit. After she lights a fire, I eat the rabbit. My stomach doesn't get full with the rabbit and what the Outcasts give me, but it's better than before.

We have a conversation…more like a one-sided one. On my side. I did all the talking, or course, and she squawks occasionally. Then, at midday when the phoenix returns with lunch, the first egg hatches.

The pearly black and blue shell is stained with a fiery orange line. My eyes widen in curiosity. To my confusion, Autumn ducks behind me. Suddenly, the egg explodes and a small dragon slumps on the ground. It's black, the usual base color of a Night Fury, with blue markings on its head, spine, and tail. Just like mine.

I sniff the small creature and nudge it. Turns out, it's a boy. He squeaks and bats at my nose with his tiny paw. This one's going to be a fighter. I purr and look at Autumn, who is gazing at him with delight. "Nate." I say and she looks at me, "His name is Nate." She nods and pulls him onto her feet **(like a penguin)** and she ducks behind me again.

Looking back at the other two eggs, I see that the black and grey one is hatching. Crouching down, I brace myself for the explosion.

BOOM!

The baby Night Fury starts squealing and peeping the minute it hits the ground. This one is a girl. Autumn stands aside with Nate as I nudge her gently. She squeaks and tries to walk. Huh huh, she's determined. I pick her up and pass her to Autumn, who puts her next to her brother. "That one is going to be Irria."

Finally, I turn to the last egg, which is also the smallest. Nothing happens. I nudge it gently, but no sound comes out of it. My heart fills with sorrow. I think this one is a dud.

I'm about to turn away when it suddenly explodes. But this time, something strange happens. The blue markings turn the fiery color of Autumn's feathers and when it explodes, fire comes out and for a moment, a flaming phoenix raises into the sky before disappearing.

A tiny, steaming Night Fury lays motionlessly on the ground. It's base color is white and its markings are the color of Autumn's feathers. I stare at it and then at Autumn. "What did you do?" I whisper.

She hangs her head and writes on the ground, "Would have died if not." I tilt my head. Then, "Oh, I get it. If you hadn't done that then she would've died."

She nods and I gently nudge the strange, tiny Night Fury. She instantly cringes away. I sigh, then pick her up and tuck all of them into my side. "I'll name her Phoenix." I say, "Nate, Irria, and Phoenix."

Nate and Irria squeal a bit, but then fall asleep. Phoenix is silent. I sigh and close my eyes. I hear Autumn fly away before falling asleep.

***spoiler* PHOENIX SHALL PLAY A BIG PART IN THIS STORY. ALSO I HAVE DECIDED TO MAKE THIS A THREE PART SERIES!**


	8. When The Runt Causes Trouble

**Just to let you know, all those artists out there, feel free to draw a scene from the story. I saw that someone drew a picture for the story Chase the Wind by Knut Case. Its a really good story, by the way.**

** Now on wiz ze chappie!**

Chapter Eight

When The Runt Causes Trouble

Toothless doesn't come the next day. Or the day after that. But that's okay; I'm busy with the hatchlings.

Autumn is doing her best to help me by bringing as much prey as she can find. I'm grateful for that because these midgets eat A LOT. They're also growing quickly; Nate and Irria seem to be having a competition on who can grow the biggest. Phoenix, however, is still the smallest. She doesn't eat as much as her siblings, but she's still alive and that's all I care about right now.

It's a bit of a challenge to keep them a secret from the Outcasts. They feed me at different times of the day so I never know when they are coming. I stay around the gate to give the baby dragons a bit of light. I don't know what their scales would look like if they grew up in the dark.

They haven't opened their eyes yet, thank goodness. I can tell that they soon will. I don't want them to open their eyes and the first thing they see is a dark Outcast cave.

I'm standing up to stretch when the sound of wings flapping announces the arrival of Autumn. I turn my head and watch her land with a particularly large piece of prey. Tilting my head, I see that it's a rabbit. A little skinny, but I don't expect much from Outcast prey.

"Can you feed them?" I ask, "I want to stretch a bit. You have no idea what it's like laying down all day."

She clicks her beak, which is her way of laughing, as I have learned, and starts ripping the rabbit apart. Nate and Irria mewl hungrily and blindly crawl towards her. Phoenix mewls, but doesn't move.

I stretch my forepaws out in front of me and arch my back. I've gotta keep an eye on that one…make sure she eats enough. I yawn and stretch my back legs. My body is sore from lack of exercise and movement.

Shaking my head, I walk back to the trio. Nate sparks a small plasma blast and I purr. Yup, definitely gonna be a fighter. Irria, who was standing next to where the little blast hit, squeals and a bit of dark green gas billows out of her mouth. I laugh, "Never going to let your big brother get too far ahead of you, huh?"

"Meep!"

I purr again and lick her head, "You're still my determined little Night Fury." I look over at Phoenix, who is tugging at a piece of rabbit. I wonder what she'll be like.

* * *

_Two weeks later_

I sit with my tail over my paws, watching Nate and Irria play fight in the firelight. They get in a headlock, but then Nate flips Irria underneath him. "Ha!" his turquois eyes light up in triumph, "Pinned ya!"

Irria growls playfully and uses her back legs to fling him off. He squeals as she gets up and slams her forepaws down onto his chest. "Look who's pinned now!" she lifts her chin in pride.

"Very good," I say, "That was a useful move, Irria, good job. You too, Nate." They get up and scamper over to me. "But Mama," Nate asks, "why do we need to learn how to fight?"

Honestly, ever since they could open their eyes and walk, I've been training them to fight. I know it could end really badly, whether now or in their future, but I need them to be prepared if something bad happens. I thought Toothless would've come by now so they wouldn't have to open their eyes to this cave. They think, and call it sometimes, it's their home.

Irria rolls her amber eyes and playfully shoves him, "Because there's a lot of bad things outside. She's preparing us incase we catch a skirrel and it fights back. Duh!"

I purr, "You're right about the first part. But I don't think any squirrel will fight back." Irria still isn't getting the word_ squirrel_ right. She's practically a spitting image of her father except that she has my eyes and her brother has Toothless's. Nate stands up and turns towards Irria, "Yeah, they're too small and weak to fight back. Like you!"

Irria's eyes widen and she leaps on him. As I watch them scuffle, I notice a small white shape edging towards them. It's Phoenix. Her flame colored markings stain her white body like blood, and sometimes I panic, thinking that it is blood. She's got unusually orange eyes that turn redder around the pupil. Not to mention that she's small. But I just think of her as one-of-a-kind.

Her siblings aren't too fond of her and tease her about her size sometimes. I usually break up these conversations, but Phoenix has been sulking alone in the shadows lately.

The tiny dragon walks up to her wrestling siblings and asks, "Nate, Irria, will you teach me how to fight too?"

They stop at look at her. Then, they suddenly surge forward and tackle her. She yelps and I stand up, ready to intervene. "You should practice with Autumn," Irria giggles and jabs Phoenix in the stomach, "You're too tiny to pin us down!"

"Yeah," Nate laughs, "we'll probably crush you by accident!" They continue to tease and poke her.

Finally, Phoenix cries out, "Ahh, Mama!"

I pick her up by the scruff and set her down next to the fire. Irria and Nate try to slip away, but I turn back to them, "Irria, Nate, come here at once!" They sulk over and I see Nate glare at Phoenix.

"You shouldn't play so roughly with your little sister!" I scold. Phoenix crouches low, scowling and glaring. I narrow my eyes at the two, "You know how fragile and small she is."

"I'M. NOT. SMALL!" Phoenix suddenly lets out a surprisingly loud roar that echoes on the cave walls. I'm about to tell her to quiet down when she leaps on top of Nate. He lets out a surprised squeal as she lands a direct blow on his head. Before he can fling her off, she dodges and prepares to attack again. I try to break them apart, but Irria leaps and hits Phoenix with her shoulder. She soars towards the gate, and I'm expecting to hear a clang, when I see that she's on the other side.

We stand there in shock for a moment. I can't believe I didn't realize this before! She's small enough to fit through the fence! The sound of rushing footsteps brings me back to reality and I hiss, "Phoenix! Get back in here right now!"

"No!" she protests, "Not with them! They keep teasing me!" The sound of footsteps gets louder and my heart beats wildly with fear. "Phoenix!" I whisper, more desperate now, "Get back! They're coming!"

"What's that smell?" Nate suddenly asks, turning to me.

"Who are coming, Mama?" Phoenix asks, but it's too late. The one and only Alvin appears in front of the fence with Skurge. He and his dragon peer into the cave as I swipe Nate and Irria towards me with my tail, back into the shadows, hiding them under my wing, stepping on the fire to put it out. Thankfully, Phoenix got knocked aside and is now hiding in a crack in the tunnel wall.

"What is it, Skurge?" Alvin asks, still peering into the cave. The prickly dragon growls low and I press the young dragons closer to me. He can smell them.

I crouch low, frozen with fear, not even daring to breathe. Nate sniffs my scales. He doesn't know it, but he smells my fear. Of all the new smells, it has to be fear.

Alvin narrows his eyes, "What are you hiding, Night Fury?" He takes something out of his pocket and tosses it inside the Dark Cave. Skurge shoots a blast of fire and the thing catches on fire, lighting up and chasing the shadows away.

At that moment, Irria peeks her head out from under my wing to see what's happening and the Outcast leader's eyes widen. My ears droop and my eyes widen in dismay. Skurge grins evilly, "I knew it."

"Baby Night Furies?" Alvin says incredulously, then grins evilly too, "Well, this makes things more fun." He takes out a key and the gate swings open, "Get her, Skurge."

Skurge bursts inside and I roughly push Nate and Irria behind me. Lowering my head, I growl such a deep and threatening growl that it surprised both Skurge and me. He leaps at me and, instead of dodging, I meet him head on and swipe my claws across his face so he crashes into the floor instead of the kids.

His spikes whip my face as he falls but we both quickly recover. He lunges at me and I dodge, landing a blow on the side of his head in the process. This only infuriates him more as he swings back around surprisingly quickly and bites my tail. I yowl in pain and bite his wing.

In the midst of our fighting, I hear Irria cry out my name and see Alvin brutally picking them up by their tails and carry them out. "No!" I yell and try to move towards them, only to feel something wrap around me and immobilize my limbs.

Skurge pins me to the ground and laughs. I flip my head, not caring that I expose my throat, and watch as Alvin's shadow fades away, along with the cries of Nate and Irria.

"They're goners." Skurge growls, "Either that or they'll be trained against you. Which do you prefer? I'll get Alvin to do either, but I do fancy seeing the look in your eyes as your son or daughter kills you." As he laughs, I get this burning feeling inside of me. Like there's a fire burning in my soul.

I growl the same threatening growl that I growled earlier (lots of growls) and sink my teeth into his chest. He shrieks in agony as I cling on, biting deeper and deeper with a strength that I never knew I had. His long, snake-like body loosens up and I break free of his grasp. Letting go, I watch him flee out of the cave and slam the door shut with his tail.

The burning feeling doesn't go away, though. Is this what it feels like to a mother when their young are in danger? It feels so strong, like I have to fight for and protect them with every breath, every heartbeat in my body.

A few minutes later, Autumn flies in and gives me a questioning look. I stalk towards the fence, flicking my tail, indicating her to follow me.

_Nothing_ keeps a mother and her baby dragon apart.

** And another cliffie. *sighs* I should really stop doing this to you guys. But the next chapter has one and then that's it for the cliffies. This story is starting to come to an end; there are only, like, three chapters left including the epilogue. And I just realized how weird it is to spell that word. Epi-epiclog**

** lol epic log**


	9. When I Open Up A Can Of Butt-Kicken

Chapter Nine

When I Open Up A Can Of Butt-Kicking

I wait impatiently for Autumn to return. She went out to try and steal the keys from the guard. Of course, I told her to, its not like she offered because I don't understand her.

I stop in the middle of my pacing. If I can't understand her, then how come she can understand me? Why can't she just speak dragon if she understands it? I shake my head, confused. Whatever, it's not important right now.

Finally, after about twenty minutes, I hear her fluttering in the tunnel. She lands on a fence bar, keys in her beak.

"About time!" I grumble, walking over to the fence, "Now let me out of here." She gives me a motherly look that says, 'don't push it'.

"Sorry." I say quickly and she climbs down next to the lock. Turning her head, she tries to fit the key into the lock. It takes about five minutes, but she eventually fits it in and unlocks the gate.

Immediately, I push it and it swings open. I look at Autumn and grin. No more dark shadows for me, baby!

She hops onto my shoulder and I take off through the tunnel. It gets lighter as I approach the entrance. But something seems to be happening. There's screeches and shrieks of pain coming from outside.

Suddenly, a bunch of Outcasts come at me and I knock them aside with a plasma blast. I jump over the burning bodies and continue running towards the growing light. Something blocks it for a moment and I blink. Then, it all turns into confusion.

Something is pressed up against me, and with one sniff, I know its Toothless. "Toothless!" I yelp with joy and nuzzle him. Autumn squawks and flutters off. He whines, "I missed you so much, Raven!" I notice something rough and hard on his head.

Once we pull away, I see that it's armor. He's got a metal helmet and pointy metal claws on top of his real ones. I narrow one eye and widen the other, "What are you wearing?"

He looks down at himself and then looks back up at me, "Battle armor. I've got some for you too." Hiccup also greeted me but I didn't pay much attention to him until now. He pulls something out of his pouch and tosses down. It clatters in front of me and I see that it's a set of metal battle claws.

"We've gotta get out of here, Raven." Hiccup says. No really? Let's just party in here while our friends fight to the death outside. I'll get the food and you get the decoration.

I roll my eyes and slip them on. Toothless looks at me for a moment before turning around and dashing up the tunnel. I follow him and the light gets brighter and brighter until I have to close my eyes. They are so used to the dark.

I hear Toothless jump and do the same. The wind whirls around me and I know that we're out of the Dark Cave. But something's wrong.

The wind is whizzing way to fast around me. Toothless screams my name and I open my eyes. The ground is rushing towards me fast. I'm falling!

I flap my wings as hard as I can, which haven't been used for almost a month. I slow down a little, but I'm still falling.

Suddenly, Toothless's black body whooshes underneath me and the wind catches my wings. I sigh with relief and fly towards him. "Are you okay?" he asks. I nod and look out into the battlefield in front of us. Or should I say, battle-sky.

All of the Berk dragons are wearing armor. They seem to only be holding off the Outcasts. They aren't bothering to push them inland or kill them, which they could easily because the Outcasts are clearly losing. Then, Thornado and Hiccup's father look at us and he yells an order. The Berk dragons start to fall back.

"Wait!" I yowl. Toothless looks at me, "What?"

I ignore him and desperately look around at the ground, soaring over the island but out of the fight. Nate and Irria! How could I have forgotten them? Toothless flies after me, asking me questions, which I ignore. How am I going to tell him?

The siblings are nowhere to be seen. "No no no no!" I mutter, "I can't have lost them!"

I feel Toothless's paw on my shoulder. "Raven," he says, "_who_ are you looking for? Was it someone you met?"

My heart drops to my stomach as I turn to face him. "No," I don't meet his gaze, "They-"

He looks right at me with a piercing gaze and I meet it. "It's your kids." I finally say and he looks frozen for a few moments. Then, he sighs, "Oh my gods. This-this is big." I can't tell if he's happy or mad. "How long have you known?" Toothless asks. I tilt my head and say cautiously, "A couple of months."

"Oh, wow." He breathes, "I'm a father. Okay, lets…go get them back…I'm a father." I laugh a little and continue scouring the land for the kids. They don't seem to be anywhere.

"And-and," Toothless flies next to me, "when were they born?" I glance around for Skurge or Alvin while answering, "About a couple of weeks ago." He "wows" again. Then, he suddenly perks up, "I know where they might be! If Alvin captured them then they would be in…"

He dives down into a tunnel and I follow him. It seems to be another prison because there are many cells on my left and my right. We fall into a silence and continue walking, ignoring the calls of the prisoners.

An abrupt rumbling sound stops me in my tracks. My ears perk and I look in the direction of the noise as it gets louder. Toothless suddenly barges into me and pushes me out of the way just as Skurge bursts out of the tunnel wall. Hiccup yells and falls off. Alvin jumps off his dragon's back quickly and advances on me while Toothless and Skurge scuffle.

"Here to get your little furies eh?" he says and I hiss, flattening my ears. The Outcast leader laughs, "They'll be very useful to me, you did well. But I don't need you anymore." He lunges at me with a sword and I quickly dodge. There's not a lot of space in the tunnel, though, and I bump into the wall.

Alvin whirls around surprisingly fast and swings his weapon. I duck and shoot a plasma blast that sends him into the opposite wall.

Seizing my chance, I leap on him and pin him down. He growls and spits in my face. "Leave my family alone." I snarl and he, as if he read my mind, says, "You and your Berk friends will never be safe."

Suddenly, I feel pain in my stomach as Alvin kicks me. I stumble and he shoves me off. I quickly recover, but so does he and he whips out with his sword again. This time, it catches my shoulder and I screech in pain.

He leaps on me and thrusts the pommel on my spine. I yelp and heave him off. Alvin stumbles and I lash out with my claws. They meet his chest and leave deep claw marks. He howls in pain and I grab him by the scruff of his shirt and throw him into an empty cell.

I pant heavily as he gets up, but more slowly this time. He looks at me right in the eye and says, "You may have won the battle…but not the war. I swear this isn't the last you will see of me…or the Outcasts." Then, the Outcast leader slumps onto the ground. He's not dead- I can still see him breathing.

I stare at him for a few moments, then turn my head towards the two fighting dragons. It seems like Toothless is winning, but it's hard to tell. How come he can defeat Skurge and I can't? I watch as he lands a hard blow on the Whispering Death's head that dazes him for a moment. Ooh, right. I guess strength matters too.

Bunching up my muscles, I spring forward and slam my head into Skurge's side. We both hurtle towards the entrance of the tunnel. I climb on top of him so he gets the full impact when we land.

Toothless flies after us and pins him down while I restrain the rest of the dragon's long body. I'm careful to avoid his spikes, but I carelessly dig my claws into his underbelly, making him shriek.

"Leave my family alone." Toothless snarls.

"You'll never be safe from us. This isn't the last you will see of me." Whoa. Irony much? I inwardly laugh. _They are __**connected**__._

With one last swipe to the face, Toothless sends him fleeing out of the tunnel. We both pant for a few moments before he turns to me with a grin on his face, "I wanna go meet them."

I smile and we dash back down the tunnel. After a minute, I skid to a stop next to a particularly large cell and look in. Nate and Irria are curled up together, but Nate instantly lifts his head, "Mama! You came!"

They scramble over each other, trying to get to me first. "Of course I came." I purr, "Now let's get you out of here."

Toothless raises one metal claw and tries to pick the lock. It takes a few moments, but soon the gate swings open. The two siblings rush over to me and nestle against my neck while I lick them both. "I was so worried. Did you guys claw him?"

Irria giggles, "Yup. Nate gave him a good scratch on his arm." I purr and turn to Toothless. Nate and Irria look up at him in curiosity. My mate smiles, "They're beautiful. What are their names?"

"Nate," I nudge the young male, "and Irria." I nudge the young female and she bats at my nose. As Toothless echoes their names softly, realization dawns on me and my eyes widen in horror.

**Flashback**

_Phoenix got knocked aside and is now hiding in a crack in the tunnel wall._

"Phoenix!" I yowl and race towards the entrance. "Phoenix?" Toothless asks in confusion but his voice soon fades away as the entrance comes nearer. How could I have forgotten her?

I climb out of the tunnel and cry out, "Phoenix!" The black tunnel of the Dark Cave is on the side of the mountain, but I don't see the little white dragon coming out. I call her name again and Skurge, who was fighting a dragon a bit away, whipped around towards me.

"Oh please no." I whisper as he grins evilly. Then, he zooms towards the Dark Cave tunnel. "No!" I roar and try to fly after him, but he was already closer when he started flying and it's too late to catch up. I can only watch as his spiny body disappears down the tunnel.

There's a yelp, a shriek, and then…

Silence

**Ahh, sorry again for the cliffie! But if I don't have a lot to do and I'm in a good mood AND I don't have a boat load of homework *pauses to take a deep breath after long sentence* I'll post the next chapter tomorrow.**

**Until then...**

**Peace**


	10. Changes and Reality

Chapter Ten

Changes and Reality

This has to be a dream. It can't be real, it just can't be.

I don't understand. My tiny, fierce little hatchling is…dead? I gaze around at the battling dragons. Turning my head up to the sky, I let out a wail of grief that echoes around me. All of the dragons stop fighting and turn to me, but I'm already down the tunnel.

Home. I have to get home. Take my hatchlings…and go home. I can't feel anything as I let the two siblings climb onto my back. No pain from the fight, no hunger…only grief. I can't even speak.

Toothless follows me silently as I take flight. He probably doesn't know who Phoenix is-was…but I can tell he knows something bad has happened. Something horrible…

I barely hear Stoick call the flight home. Nobody speaks during the journey home. Only the Vikings. The other dragons give me wary, pitiful looks as we fly. They know what has happened.

"I think something bad happened to Raven." I hear Hiccup say, "The dragons are acting a bit weird around her."

I squeeze my eyes shut and turn away, not able to bear the pain. After a while, the Island of Berk comes in sight and I am the first to land. Nate and Irria don't make a sound as I solemnly walk towards the house. I lay down on the rock slab, tuck them under my wing, and close my eyes.

* * *

_A few days later_

I'm still grieving over Phoenix's death. Nate and Irria, however, soon get over it and return to their usual, playful selves. I take them to the forest a lot so they can play, but I don't say much.

Also, I haven't really introduced them to their father. They see him from time to time, but nothing more.

Now, I'm on a boulder watching them silently as they play in the cove. Nate splashes Irria with the lake water, who squeals excitedly and chases him around. They soon end up scuffling on the shore. I don't pay attention as Stormfly stealthily lands next to me.

I hear her sigh and turn my head towards her, "What is it?" My best friends looks at me and says, "You."

"Me?"

"Look, I know it's been hard ever since…the battle," she says, "But you have to let go of the past. Nate and Irria need you. You're going to miss their youth if you keep going on like this. A true mother plays with their young, not just let them entertain themselves."

"Are you saying I'm not being a good mother?" I challenge.

"Yes, yes I am. Raven, I know you. When I first met you-you were the most hard-core dragon I'd ever met. Everything that you went through in your past- you let it all go. This shouldn't be so hard."

She flies away, leaving me staring after her.

She's right. As much as I hate to admit it, she is. I _am _being a terrible mother. It's just…how can I forget that I had three kids instead of only two? I watch as Irria lands a soft blow on Nate's nose.

Smiling, I leap off of my boulder and crouch playfully next to them. They stare at me for a moment before playfully chasing me around. I don't go too fast, only enough to stay just out of reach.

But near the end, I let Nate leap on top of me and pretend to be pinned down. "We got you!" Irria squeals as she tugs on my ear. I laugh, "Yes you did, my little hunters!" Nate scrambles onto my wing but is soon tackled to the ground by his sister.

"Ahh! Irria-Irria stop! It t-tic-tickles!" He laughs as she tickles him with her claws. I stand on my hind legs, "Roar! I'm a hungry bear! I'm going to have Night Furies for dinner!" They squeal excitedly as I chase them.

We play for a few hours until the sun starts to set. Then, I help them up the rock wall and we head home. Before I tuck them into bed, though, I take them to Toothless. "Hi, Toothless!" Nate says cheerfully, "We just had the best day with Mama! We went to the cove and she started playing with us!"

Toothless looks at me and I smile. "Nate, Irria," they look up at me, "There's somebody you need to meet."

My mate sits down and swipes them towards him with his tail. They gaze at him in confusion. He looks at me and I nod. "Nate, Irria," he says, looking down at his children, "I'm your father."

**Short chapter but the epilogue will come later in the day**


	11. Epilogue

Epilogue

Phoenix's POV

_Earlier_

I stay in the crack in the tunnel wall. The big, scary dragon and his rider are gone, but I'm still a bit wary. The adrenalin flowing through my body when I attacked Nate is gone, but the hatred still remains.

So what if they're bigger than me? That doesn't mean they're better than me! Or give them the right to bully me! Ugh, they make me so angry and-and I hate them! I'd grow if I could!

That's all they care about, though. Being big and strong is what matters to them.

They don't let me play with them, either. Mama's never said it, but I can see she likes them better than me.

I watch with my orange and red eyes as Mama and Autumn open the gate and run up the tunnel. She doesn't even care that I'm here! If she did, she wouldn't have left me! I growl and I get a weird feeling in my heart. All she's concerned about is oh-so-perfect Nate and Irria. "I wish," I growl quietly, "I wish they would just get out of my life."

Peeking my head out of the crack, I watch as Mama and another dragon fly out of the tunnel. I scoff. Perfect.

I stalk towards the entrance of the Dark Cave, my baby claws scraping against the stone floor. Hopefully I'll get my grown up claws before them. I crouch down and peer outside. Mama and the other dragon are diving down into another hole in the ground.

They disappear in it for a while and I watch as the big dragon full of spikes from earlier flies out in a panic. I gaze at him in interest as he turns and starts fighting another dragon, I think Mama called them Monstrous Nightmares, despite his obvious injuries.

He shoots a series of rings of fire at the dragon, who shrieks as one catches its wing. I watch intently as he dodges a blow from the Nightmare and lashes out with his spike-covered tail. Three get caught on the dragon's chest and it yowls in pain, fleeing. "Whoa." My eyes widen in admiration.

My tail lashes excitedly and I shift on my paws. I want to try those moves! If Nate and Irria saw me do that- ha, they'll never look at me the same way again!

Suddenly, Mama's head pops out of the tunnel and looks towards me. I slink back into the shadows of the cave. I can still see a bit, but when I do, I wish I hadn't.

The prickly dragon is racing to me and I take a few steps back. He appears in the entrance and I yelp in surprise at his size. Though he looks like a young adult, maybe a bit older. Before I can do anything else, he whips me across the face with his tail and I shriek in pain. The force sends me hurtling into the wall and I slump to the ground.

My shoulder hurts badly from where it got hit and my face feels like it's on fire.

**Flashback**

_He turns and starts fighting the other dragon despite his obvious injuries. _

I blink and slowly get up. The big dragon seems surprised, but doesn't try to hurt me again. I turn to face him and get into a battle stance.

He gazes at me in amusement. "You're pretty small to even think of taking on me. I admire that."

I give the most ferocious snarl I can make, "I'm not small! I can be big and strong like everybody else! I just had a rough beginning, that's all!"

He laughs and says, "Oh I believe you, all right. But," I slithers a bit closer, "I have a proposition for you." I stand my ground, despite not knowing what a proposition is. So, I try to use big words, "And what is this proposition you speak of?"

"I am Skurge of the Outcasts. Now before I begin, I want to ask you something." He continues, "Do your siblings tease you about your size? And if so, how does that make you feel?"

I don't really understand why this 'Skurge' is asking me this, but I answer anyways, "Yes, they do tease me sometimes. And I hate it! They think I'm weak and tiny- being big and strong is all that matters to them. Also, Mama likes them better than me. I want to show them that I am much more than what they think I am."

Skurge grins maliciously, "Wonderful. Now let me tell you about my proposition. The Outcasts aren't very, ah how should I put this? Fond of the Vikings of Berk. Your determination and will could be valuable to us. If you join us, we will train you to be the most ferocious dragon of the seas. You would help us on our quest for control, and the best part is, you would show your kin your true power and capability. The only thing is; you would live with us, here on Outcast Island, and leave your family until the time has come."

I pause to think. I have no idea what Berk is, but I think Mama mentioned it once. The offer is very tempting. I would never have to tolerate Nate and Irria's teasing ever again.

I walk to the entrance and stand on the edge. Half of the dragons are fleeing over the ocean, along with Mama and Nate and Irria. Skurge watches with me. I finally notice wet stuff on my face and wipe it with my right paw.

Some red stuff comes off and I stare at it in confusion. "What is that?" I ask. Skurge looks at my paw, "It's called blood. Dragons- well, actually everything- needs it to survive. If you wound an animal enough, or create a big enough wound, then they will bleed to death."

I stay silent. Death? What is death? I lower my paw to the ground, and then finally say, "I agree to your proposition. At least it will prove…"

"Prove what?" the dragon asks. I look up at him and copy his grin from earlier,

"It will prove to my kin just how wrong they were about me."

**I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE LAZY READ THIS! **

**So, you guys can choose weather or not to read the next story. Some people might not like it but others might. It's a little dark (and violent) but not too despressing. It's basicaly a villian's point of view, so if you don't like that stuff, don't read it.**

**But don't expect it to be up immediately. It will be out around the first weeks of June cuz I need a little break and some time to write it. I'll leave and author's note when its up.**

**Until then...**

**May the odds be ever in your favor.**

**May the force be with you.**

**Tacos and donuts for everyone (but don't eat them together, it sucks)**

**...and yeah, bye**


	12. Author's note

**Hey guys, Crow here. So, you know the whole 'three part series'? Well, there is a SLIGHT chance that it might not happen. I've hit a road block and honestly I'm getting a bit tired of my story. I need something new. **

** If I do post it, it will come LATER in the summer. I'm making a little short anime movie for my classmates that will take all summer and I'm working on another story. So...yeah, byes.**


	13. New Story!

**Guys guys guys guys guys! I've got the next part down! Go onto my profile- it's called 'Who To Become'. Now, not everyone might like that story cuz it's sort of a villian's tale. But you'll soon love our little baddy.**

**As for the coward that hid behind the Guest instead of facing me like an awesome person and said, "****Of course another shit author that's to lazy to finish her story thanks a lot flaming Crow! You SHIT !"...**

***troll face* ha ha, who's lazy now? You don't even have a story, or an account. That wasn't even critisizm to my story, it was to me. So if you had an account, I would've reported you.**

**Sorry, I had to get that out of my system.**

**Byes!**


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